10.29.08

[pictured, student of history Charles Barkley, coming out for a strong national defense]

Is it too early for CSTB to officially endorse Charles Barkely’s 2014 Alabama gubernatorial bid? I’ll notify the editorial board sometime by 2013, but until then: CSTB fully backs Charles Barkley for Governor of Alabama, until he says something stupidindefensible that loses us readers.

Barkley’s large hat is in the ring, and he’s staking out a radically leftist stance. That is, he criticized FOX news. Usually candidates wait for major media outlets to attack them first before dismissing an entire political tv network as “fucked up.” In my on-going attempts to spin Barkley’s positions to conservative Alabama voters, I’d like to point out that while he did say Fox is “fucked up,” that wide-ranging comment also includes Tim McCarver and Joe Buck. Naturally, Fox shot back in its own classy way. Broadcast and Cable‘s Ben Grossman has the story here.

œI watch CNN, they™re not fucked up like Fox, Barkley told B&C. œThey are a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. I watch [Fox] a couple times when there is someone I want to see on there. But they™re corrupt.”
When asked whether he is just shilling for his parent company (TNT and CNN are corporate cousins), Barkley denies that he has to stick up for his team.

œHell no, I don™t, he says. œI like Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and John King. They at least try to give both sides.

But Fox News Channel doesn™t see it that way, as a network spokesperson fired back immediately.

œIt™s hardly a surprise that Charles is a shill for a Turner owned network…. He obviously needs the steady paycheck to pay off his consistent gambling debts, the spokesperson told B&C.

Barkley in May said he was at least temporarily putting on hold a gambling habit that he once told ESPN has cost him about $10 million over the years. Earlier this year, a hotel in Las Vegas alleged that Barkley had failed to repay casino markers.